Anthem: The Universal Language
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: Some said that music was the universal language. Some said that the Anthem of Creation bound and penetrated all. But even if both was claims were true, it meant nothing to the Dominion.


**The Universal Language**

"Is it just me, or is my hair twitching?"

"Stay still Coda."

"No, seriously, I've got a tingly feeling all over and ow!"

She glared at Haluk. He gave her "the look." The look that most people wouldn't even recognise, but between them, translated as "you're still my friend, but you can be a real pain in the arse sometimes." In turn, she gave him the look that translated as "okay, I'll be quiet," and as such, the mechanic continued to patch her up.

"Really need a doctor on the Strider."

She'd given him the look that said she'd be quiet. She'd said nothing about how long.

"This going to take long?"

"I'm a mechanic, not a doctor," Haluk said.

"Yeah, I can tell that and ow!"

He'd botched up the salve again that he'd been rubbing over her face. Just by applying it, it was meant to patch up her wounds just like that. Course if it was pressed too hard or too much was applied, it would send her undamaged epidermis into overdrive, giving her a temporary rash. Not the best means of being patched up, but it sure beat stitches.

Coda would trust Haluk with her life. That didn't mean she'd trust him with stitches.

"And all done," the mechanic said. He returned the salve to a nearby bowl of water, washing his hands. "Princess is ready."

Coda scoffed as she saw Owen and Faye climb the ladder up to the Strider's top deck. She wasn't a princess. There hadn't been a princess on this planet for centuries. Heck, she didn't even know if princesses had ever existed outside fairy tales. The rationale of "we once ruled the world and didn't hide in scattered fortresses, so we once had a golden age" sounded nice, but that in of itself didn't say anything about a supposed monarchy. And given that the Dominion was…well, the Dominion, maybe the lack of monarchies was for the best.

"You okay?"

"How you holding up?"

She forced a smile for Owen and Faye as they came to see her. She appreciated it, really, but they'd do this every time she or her Javelin got a scratch in the field. Which was to say, most of the time, at least for the latter. The entire point of exosuits was preventing the user from getting scratched at all, let alone blasted with lightning.

"Alright, visiting time is over," Haluk said. He gave Coda the look that said "yeah, I know you want to be left on your own, so I'll find Owen something to do." "Owen, you're with me. Suit needs a tune-up."

"What, again?"

"Yes Owen, again," Coda said. "That's what you're here for isn't it?"

"Thought I was on cypher duty."

"That's my job," said Faye. She gave Owen a playful shove. "Think of this as an endorsement of your skills as a mechanic in addition to telepathy."

Haluk murmured something about Owen's lack of mechanical skills, which caused Owen to protest even as they headed back down to the lower deck. That left the two women alone.

"So," Faye said. "How you holding up?"

"Meh."

"Meh?"

"Meh," Coda said. She tried moving her arm while fingering her forehead with her other hand. "I've been better."

"Could be worse."

"Coulda, woulda, shoulda." She sighed. "But come on, let's discuss it."

"Discuss what?"

"The power of the Storm I faced."

Faye didn't say anything. Not at first at least, but those few seconds gave Coda more than enough time to reflect on the events of the last few hours. How she'd encountered a Dominion Javelin. A Storm. Neither of those combinations were out of the realm of the expected, but the power it had wielded – the teleportation, the lightning…it had literally run circles around her Ranger Javelin. It had downed her. The lightning had even penetrated her suit, which even now was giving her the tingles. It was only when the bastard had loomed over her, confident in victory, delaying the killing blow that she'd used her shockblade to stab him through the stomach. She'd lain there, barely able to move, as the pilot had fallen over and died beside her. She'd watched the Strider loom over both of them. How Haluk had descended in the walker's lift, taking her back up to be treated.

"Faye?" she asked again.

Using the broadest definition of "treated" that was.

"What do you want me to say?" Faye asked. She took a seat opposite Coda.

"That…" She sighed. "I dunno. Way I see it there's two options. That either the Dominion's Javelin technology can tap into the Anthem of Creation far better than we can, or I just ran across an exceptionally skilled pilot."

"And you expect me to know the answer?"

"You're the one fascinated with the Anthem Faye. I'd take your input before anyone else's."

"First of all, that's not true," Faye said. "But thanks for trying to flatter me."

Coda shrugged – a move she regretted, because her shoulder was still sore.

"Second of all…" She sighed. "I don't know Coda, alright? The Dominion wants to use the Anthem as a weapon. Storms are that weapon. The Freelancers use Storms as well, so one could ask-"

"For Tarsis isn't a rogue kingdom based on conquest."

"No, we're an anarcho-collective with various factions cooperating on a knife's edge." Coda opened her mouth, but Faye kept speaking. "Don't worry, I'm not defending the Dominion, or their actions, but…"

"But?"

"But has it occurred to you that they're doing what they believe to be right?"

"I dunno. They don't talk about it much."

That was true, Coda reflected. True enough that Faye stopped playing devil's advocate. She knew that the Dominion's supposed goal was the unification of the human race, to achieve mastery over mankind so that Man might achieve mastery over the world. Which sounded good, if not for how they'd slaughter anyone who disagreed with that notion. Problem was, every time Coda had encountered a member of the Dominion in the wilds, none of them had been interested in conversation. It was fight or die. So far, she'd avoided the last part. But the Dominion were human. Psychotic, tyrannical, but still, human. The Scars at least had the excuse of speaking a different language.

"It bothers you, doesn't it though?" Coda said eventually. "Turning the Anthem into a weapon. Not just the Dominion, but the Freelancers as well."

"I have some thoughts," Faye murmured.

Coda laughed – not too hard, her chest was still aching. "Relax Faye, I'm not calling you a traitor."

"Good." She sighed. "Then Anthem of Creation. The song that binds us all. The song that started at the world's end, and shall only cease when Creation itself meets its final end."

"Nice quoting."

"It's the truth," Faye said firmly.

"Right…"

Faye sighed again. "I mean…there's some who say music is a universal language. That our ancestors once spoke more languages than there are stars in the sky, but it was music that bound them."

Coda didn't say anything.

"I've always liked that idea," Faye said. "Call me an idealist, but if the Anthem really is music, and it surrounds us, binds us, penetrates us…it's wrong, isn't it? The Anthem taps into the same force we do, the same force that the Shapers did, but they won't ever communicate with us."

"Maybe they have nothing to say," Coda murmured. "Or maybe music isn't a universal language."

"Maybe…"

"Faye, you want to know what I hear every time I've fought one of these bastards? Gunfire. Shots. Screams. That's the music I hear, and it's the music that keeps me up at night in the knowledge that sooner or later, the music will end."

"Don't talk like that Coda."

"I mean it." She leant back in her own chair. "The Dominion's moving Faye. The Sentinels think they can outsource odd jobs to us, Corvus can play its games, and the Arcanists can pretend that the world is just one big book that isn't trying to kill you, but things have changed. You know it, I know it, even Haluk knows it."

"What do I know?"

Two eyes focused on the mechanic who'd come back up the ladder. The mechanic who gave Coda the look that said "I heard everything, and don't appreciate you talking behind my back."

Thus, Coda said, "that I'm ready to get back to work."

A lie. But not so damning a lie that Haluk didn't get the true meaning behind it.

"Alright," he said. "But you won't need to work much. Freelancers want us back at Fort Tarsis."

 _So the music changes._ Coda gave Faye a look. _Is music still the universal language?_

She didn't know. She didn't ask, because Faye was her friend, and she'd spare her from having to answer it. At the least, Faye didn't want the Anthem to be misused. That, at least, made the Dominion her enemy before anything else. Well, bar the Scars, but everyone hated them.

"Come on," Haluk said. "You can finish the work on your Javelin."

"But I'm wounded. And my hair's still tingling."

Haluk gave her another look.

"Sure, sure," Coda said. She began climbing down the ladder, moving in slow, steady steps. Keeping the beat of her life. Of her music.

Music of the Anthem that was slowing down.

Before the crescendo.


End file.
